Universal Design applied to the digital world — does it make sense?

A little over six months ago, I got to deliver the project I'm still most proud of: my undergraduate thesis. Rooted in service and digital design, it proposed a solution in the field of women's health.

For a lot of people, putting together a graduation project is a major headache. I chose to treat it as a chance to learn, reflect, and put into practice everything my degree had taught me.

So I decided to share some of the learnings, reflections, and debates with the world. Who knows — maybe I'll help someone on a project of their own.

To open this series of articles, I picked the topic I'd struggled the most to find material on in Portuguese. Have you ever heard of Universal Design?

The concept of Universal Design was first used in the 1970s by American architect Ronald Mace, to describe the practice of creating projects that would be accessible to everyone. At first it was applied to architecture. Later, it spread to the creation of products, services, and information architecture.

To make sure anyone can use a solution or product in the best way possible, seven principles were laid out in 1997 by North Carolina State University — which today runs the Center for Universal Design, the leading reference on the subject. These are the principles a designer should keep in mind throughout the creation process.

When I first came across these ideas, I questioned whether they applied to digital environments. The principles lean heavily toward objects and physical space, so how do you apply them when building apps and websites? In the list below, I go through the seven recommendations, what they mean, and how they translate to digital.

1. EQUITABLE USE

The design has to be useful and appealing to people with a range of abilities, without stigmatizing or segregating anyone, while keeping use safe and easy for everyone.

In the digital world:

Building interfaces that work for the widest possible range of user profiles, across the most varied abilities.

2. FLEXIBILITY IN USE

The design should accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities, adapting to each user's characteristics and making use accurate and precise.

In the digital world:

This is where we talk about tailoring the experience to each user's needs — for example, letting people increase the type size or adjust color contrast. This may be the most important principle of all when it comes to accessibility. Are the digital products we build adaptable for older adults, say? Or for people with low vision?

3. SIMPLE AND INTUITIVE USE

Understanding the product shouldn't depend on the user's background — their knowledge, their language skills, or even how much focus they can spare in the moment. So we strip away unnecessary complexity and meet the user's expectations and instincts, through strategies like clear information hierarchy and feedback once a task is done.

In the digital world:

The title says it all, and the recommendations above map perfectly onto building systems. We're talking about simple, easy, intuitive experiences.

4. PERCEPTIBLE INFORMATION

Communicate the necessary information clearly and generously, using different modes (pictorial, verbal, and tactile), accounting for users' sensory abilities and their surroundings, and making sure people with sensory limitations can still access it.

In the digital world:

Take wayfinding projects as an example. We use colors, pictograms, icons, and other cues to make sure the message is clear for anyone moving through that space. In digital, this shows up in the pairing of icons and text — in mobile menus, for instance. Pictograms, in turn, echo what we see offline and often point to the same ideas, like a question mark tied to a help topic or the "i" for information.

5. TOLERANCE FOR ERROR

Minimize hazards and the fallout from accidental or unintended actions. Warnings for danger and errors, barriers around risky actions, and organizing elements by importance are some of the strategies that support this principle.

In the digital world:

Think of the warnings a system gives you before a risky action — permanently deleting a file, say. Imagine if that dialog never popped up to ask, "Are you sure you want to do this?"… I bet plenty of people would have lost some seriously important files by now!

6. LOW PHYSICAL EFFORT

Using the product should be comfortable and efficient, with as little effort as possible — keeping body movements natural and avoiding repetitive, needless strain.

In the digital world:

This is where microinteractions and gestures come in for navigating apps or pages. A good example is how Google shortened the steps to archive an email. Being able to swipe the message aside to archive it is efficient and cuts the path to that action.

7. SIZE AND SPACE FOR APPROACH AND USE

The space provided for approach, use, reach, and handling should be appropriate regardless of the user's body size, posture, or mobility. It should give a clear view of the important elements and keep every element within reach, while leaving room for assistive tools or personal help (a cane, a wheelchair, and so on).

In the digital world:

This one may be the hardest to tie to something digital. But the phrase "it should give a clear view of the important elements" points us straight to hierarchy and a clean, organized layout.

To wrap up, what I love most about the principles of Universal Design is that they were conceived to guarantee democratic, equitable use of spaces, objects — and, why not, digital products.

By the way, digital accessibility is one of the topics I found hardest to dig up specific material on, and it's tightly connected to these ideas. That's why it'll be the subject of the next article.

Until next time!

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